The president of the United States, Donald Trump, began his mandate with the promise of executing mass deportations, which caused fear among migrants in an irregular situation. However, a report by the Guatemalan Institute of Migration reveals that the number of Guatemalans returned in the first months of the year is lower compared to that registered during the administration of Joe Biden.
From April 1 to 9, they entered the country, from the United States, 8,786 Guatemalans “Adults and minors,” while in the same period of 2024 they added 21 thousand 158. It is a 58%decrease, according to official data.
Francisco Pellizzari, priest and director of the Migrant House in Guatemala, points out that, although the measure has temporarily stopped migration to the north, it has not been sustainable in the United States. He warns that, if Guatemala does not attend the structural causes of the phenomenon – as unemployment, poverty and violence – migration will be reactivated sooner or later.
The official data indicate that the number of Guatemalans returned so far this year is lower than that registered in the same period of previous years. Given this trend, the question arises: how is this behavior interpreted after the threats of President Donald Trump?
At this time, Trump’s policy is bullying, in the sense of speaking and exaggerating, passing over common sense, human rights, and goes above any humanitarian aspect, with the most powerful in the world.
The mass deportations that were going to occur in the first days could no longer maintain them, because the United States does not have an internal structure that is supplied for arrests as they wanted to make a thousand and 500 people a day.
Can you expect a change in the short term?
We are not facing what had been announced, but surely there is a policy that is preparing the entire mechanism for deportations. I would not say massive, because they can’t do that, the economy would decline, but it will surely be a large deportation in the near future. We have to wait for several deportees, perhaps much more than we had previously, but not with the claims Trump gave in the campaign and in the first days of government, and that he continues to do so until now.
But the system they have is not supplied, so you have to organize it. There are several judges who are practically stopping all that great process of deportations they wanted to do, because, at the legal level, it was unconstitutional.
In short, you have to be prepared for a large group of deported people.
The Executive works in the Plan Return to the Home, but is this the best way to serve returned migrants?
Guatemala is preparing a return path for their countrymen, which can be good, hopeful, but the problem is that, at this time, they should give the deported people those opportunities that lacked to offer them when they decided to leave the country. In other words, if 10 years or 5 years ago there were no decent and well -paid sources of work, it is not by miracle, and because a program arises, that this can be resolved and can be offered. The road is much longer.
The effort that is being made is good; It seems to me that it is the part that, at the government level, can be achieved. The reception of deported migrants, is here in Tecún Umán or in the Air Force in the capital, is exemplary, in the sense of all the services offered to them, all indications. The problem is that, when they go to the door, they leave the Air Force gate and have to face the reality of the country. The problem is when they arrive at their department, their place of origin, and they do not find work, or there is a badly paid job, there is lack of possibilities, which was the reason why these people, men and women, left the country recently or years ago.
Then, until some time it can be interesting, important to encourage and encourage the government to receive these brothers and sisters in a dignified way and that they can offer them the possibilities, but miracles cannot be done. You can organize and do the reception work, but the problem remains another: the real life opportunities.
Do you think the home return plan and good government intentions are enough to meet the urgent needs of returnees?
Yes, it’s true. Listening to migrants, there is some distrust of these programs, what they are going to do now, if at the end it will be a little job (what they offer them), but how will they do to recover the US $ 20,000, the US $ 15 thousand they have lost to pay the coyote? Some sold land, properties, and now, how do the debts recover or pay? A little job can give them to live the day, if it is good, but will they have left to invest and heal the previous wounds?
The issue, on the part of migrants, is that, if there is any offer, they consider it not so possible or useful to recover, or invest, or dream in the country of origin, what they were dreaming in the United States.
Donald Trump’s actions have discouraged the migration of Guatemalans to the United States?
What we see is that not only has migrants been scared, but the authorities around the world have also been scared, because the measure was something threatening, inhuman and out of all control. Even countries a little more consistent or powerful were silent in front of all this. This has put migration, migratory flow.
Also the Venezuelans who went to the United States, several are returning. We find them here, in the migrant’s house, and they say: “For now this does not work, it is useless”, and when you reach the Extortion and Criminality Lagoon of Mexico, there are several drowned; So, they better return.
But history teaches it, and once again we repeat it: migration does not stop in front of this. There will be a time when it will be triggered, once again, everything, and will return to migrate, because, if the problem of origin is not solved, this will continue to be an option for the Guatemalans.